J Francho

Springtime? I don't do a lot of finesse drop shotting during prespawn. Other power/search techniques are usually more efficient and productive. I will say that fishing just outside where the crappie guys are throwing live minnows would be a good place to try a Gulp! Alive Minnow on a drop shot.

Not sure which reel this is, but Pinnacle had a similar reel, and there was no locking switch - just a simple interference bayonet mount. Did you try to just twist it? If its this older model, there is a latch below the worm drive, on the brake side. Slide it toward the crank side, and twist the side plate, down I believe.

Planting brush is illegal here in NY, but I'm wondering if anyone has stooped to removing someone else's brush piles.

This is what I was thinking as well. No need to apologize for the rant, I sympathize. What is irritating is, that these projects are initially pitched with fishing, and the $$$ that comes along with it, as "pro." As soon as things are going, they only see the revenue from usage fees from other events, not the stimulus that the convenience stores, tackle stores, gas sales, etc. Anyway, I'm about to get political, so I'll stop. Suffice it to say, "green" gets a lot of lip service, but when it comes to resource management, we are sometimes brown.

Straight shank, chemically sharpened, super heavy duty. I only want to hear about hooks you've actually used in sick cover. Thanks in advance!

Why do they draw the reservoir down at all?

It also resists abrasion better. When using a leader, use leader material, not reel fill line. Its much tougher than reel fill.

Do not add white vinegar or pickle juice to your tank. As Raul said, just set a regimen of regular water changes to maintain a stable pH and alkalinity.

What do you think the hackers are using, LOL....Mac or Linux.

Just that you read it wrong. Again, there was no offense intended. Though, even if he had asked for postcards per second, I would have flipped the stat, pointing out that seconds per postcard was a far more accessible measurement. Its all about semantics here. If you asked someone how fast they were traveling, and they said, "0.0167 hours per mile," you wouldn't know how fast they were going. I would just say, 60 miles per hour, and EVERYONE can relate. 18 seconds per postcard is easily comprehended, and any improvement can be easily seem. If he somehow gets this down to 15 seconds per postcard, you can easily see its a big improvement (about 20%). You don't quite get that comparing .067 with .056 postcards per second. I deal in statistics every day, and I can't get my head around that measurement. Anyway, I apologize for rambling on, LOL.

Outcast Touchdown jigs, 7' mh/f rod, 12# CXX.

Fluorocarbon will separate the pretenders from the contenders when it comes to knot tying. On a Palomar specifically, most simply pull on both the main than the tag to snug the knot down. This is wrong. get the mainline snug, and pull the tag ONLY. If there is a curly-q in your line just above the hook, start over - you mashed and distorted the fluorocarbon. Likewise, when tying a Uni, snug the coils of the knot without pulling on the loop going through the hook eye. Then wet the mainline and knot, and gently slide it to the tie off. Finally pull the tag to tighten. Again, any curly-q's, you can start over. I've hooked and landed fish as large as 22# (brown trout) on 4# fluorocarbon. Its not the line, its the knots

I don't mean to sound cheeky, but I literally have over 40 different baits that qualify as "jigs." From tiny 3/32 oz. flick-shakes all the way up to 1-1/2 oz. footballs. I would throw them on at least four different rigs, from light finess spinning gear, on up to XH broomstick. Is there a specific type of jig your asking about? Or perhaps a specific type of cover that you'd like to fish them?

How does it blow the others away? By its transparent operation. For an even lower resource overhead, take a look at NOD32.

Gotcha! We have had yo-yo temps the past week or so. Almost 70° one day, snowing the next. Pretty typical Rochester schizo weather, LOL.

Once familiar with the bottom contour, you are going to want to turn off the sonar anyway. Bass can and will respond negatively to the incessant pinging.

Paul, why don't you just fire her up and mess around in the yard with the sonar off?

I spawned and raised Oscar fry in water with a pH of 8.2 and hardness of 11 dKH. In my opinion, pH stability is MORE important than the actual value. Also, since Oscars are a high nitrogenous waste output, nitrogen management is best achieved with biological filtration. BF works best with pH > 7.0. Like many other fish, ammonia levels < .5 ppm can be deadly. Nitrite levels are tolerated to slightly higher, though the addition of non iodized salt softens the effect. Oscars, being a Cichlid, are also sensitive to the final product of nitrification, Nitrate. i kept my pair in a 70 gal. tank and performed 30% water changes twice a week to maintain Nitrate levels < 10ppm.

Look for Seachem Discus Buffer and Neutral Regulator. There are ratios listed for target pH. The Discus Buffer is VERY powerful stuff. The Neutral Regulator will ensure it doesn't drop too low. Discus Buffer is actually a buffered acid that lowers pH. You will see calcium carbonate actually precipitate from solution with water that has high levels of calcium carbonate in the water. Nuetral regulator replaces those buffering salts with a measured amount. It is preferable to premix water for water changes and allow to stabilize overnight. One key question though: what species of fish are we talking about, and are you sure that pH stability (irrespective if the value is "wrong" according to field measurements) isn't the issue? BTW, baking soda is only temporary, as it does not replace the buffering elements necessary to maintain a STABLE pH, which is more important than struggling to maintain some arbitrary "right" pH. If you need more help, PM me, and we can talk tonight over the phone.

Skip the FC leader, and tie direct. Fish don't seem to care about the braid.

I dig it, has a sort nu-school hot rod theme to it, with the flames, bright orange, and all the anodized Al on the US Trail reel.

Macs are for blouse wearing poodle walkers.... PCs are for pocket protector penny loafer wearing glasses fixed with a bandiad nerds... Nerds use either because they like too... Geeks get paid to use them... I like both. Macs are great for a no fuss machine. Some of the higher end Macs are essential for video, audio, and image production. I would hate to try and get my enterprise application development tools to work on a Mac. All that said, I have so much money tied up in software licensing for my photography in PC, to completely convert to Mac would be cost prohibitive. My image production machine has about twice as much horsepower than a comparable Mac, though, so eventually the cost of hardware will wash that out. I'd be willing to bet that 90% of people using PC could convert to Macs with little pain, and be amazed at how easy the OS is to use. Its just less "OS interference" when all you want to do is read your email, surf the web, upload your pictures, and chat with your friends. Something interesting...I haven't run an anti virus suite on my production box in over five years. Occasionally, I do a remote scan from another machine, and I've never had any virus. I don't recommend this to the casual user though. It takes quite a bit of configuration for both hardware and software, and very limited internet "surfing." When PC falls from its market share, and something else takes over, it will be targeted by virus inventors, whom I suspect probably work for Symantec or McAfee, LOL.

Trilene 8# will work fine, as long as you are working rocky structure. If you are going to do the yo-yo thing and snapping the bait in weeds, I'd go heavier, like 10# or 12# line. Most of my light and medium cranking is done with P-Line CXX 8# and a medium/moderate rod. For heavier cover, I use a MH/Moderate rod and 10# CXX.

Nice rig. I vote no camo on the truck - subtle is where its at. With the camo, it looks like it belongs to a dude "with a big hat, and no cattle," kind of poseurish. That ain't you, man.

That is what your drag is for. I use up to 80# braid on my heavy cover rods. I think my flipping stick is rated for 30# line.